Monday, November 22, 2010

The IL-76 deal is dead, long live the IL-476?

Russia will offer China the new military cargo plane Ilyushin Il-476, which will be produced in Ulyanovsk, head of the Rosoboronexport department on exports of special property and services Sergei Kornev told reporters at Airshow China 2010 on Wednesday.

He leads the Rosoboronexport delegation at the show.

“Il-76 production in Ulyanovsk is being resumed. Il-476 is a new generation plane with profound modernization. We will offer this plane to our Chinese partners,” he said.

It is not planned to resume the fulfillment of a contract on the delivery of many Il-76 cargo planes and Il-78 tanker planes to China. “We will sign a new contract because we offer a plane of completely new quality,” Kornev said.

He confirmed the complete delivery of D-30KP engines for the Il-76.

Meanwhile, consultations on the joint creation of a heavy cargo helicopter continue with China. “No agreements have been reached so far,” Kornev said.

As of lately, Russia has been leasing heavy helicopters Mil Mi-26 to China.

Russia and China agreed on the delivery of 34 Il-76MDs and four Il-78s in September 2005. Experts approximately evaluated the deal at $1.5 billion. The contract was suspended due to the Tashkent aviation plant’s inability to build the aircraft.